Williams put in solid groundwork during Friday practice

Williams Martini Racing put in a solid performance during the first two free practice sessions at Formula One’s second round in Malaysia.

Both Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa put themselves in contention for solid points come Sunday with four top ten positions for the team during FP1 and FP2 with the Brazilian getting as high as sixth.

Massa, who finished only two tenths behind the leaders in FP2 said: “We completed our run plan and we had no technical issues, so today was a good opportunity to learn more about the performance of the car. It was pretty hot so we could also understand more about how the tyres are working in high temperatures. We managed to do long runs on different types of tyre which has been very useful and the car was performing solidly. There is still more performance to unlock from the car, so we need to work hard tonight analysing the data we have to make some improvements for qualifying and the race.”

Bottas also tried out the Prime and Option tyres available from Pirelli this weekend, but had a few complaints: “One challenge has been the difference in pace between the prime and the option tyre. The prime was sliding quite a lot and wearing out, so that will be something to watch out for over the weekend. I didn’t have the best lap on my final run on the option tyres, so like most people we still have some more speed to come tomorrow. The car still needs more downforce, particularly in the high speed corners, but we have our own strengths and our top speed is looking strong which is always good in the race.”